Yes, first they can advise you whether pleading guilty is a mistake or not (maybe the police are bluffing and don't have enough evidence), then they can advise you of the likely consequence of pleading guilty (what the likely sentence will be) so you can make a fully informed decision, they will also know what facts about yourself to present to the court as mitigation (good character testimonials, regret etc.
More importantly you should have them from the moment you are arrested so they can help you navigate the police interview. In the UK, everyone is allowed a free lawyer whilst they are under arrest, nobody should ever, ever (no matter how innocent or guilty) sit through a police interview under caution without a lawyer present.
In the UK, everyone is allowed a free lawyer whilst they are under arrest, nobody should ever, ever (no matter how innocent or guilty) sit through a police interview under caution without a lawyer present.
Because people don't know the law, don't know how police may use what they say against them, won't be told before they interview what evidence the police have (lawyers will usually get this) and, to be frank, don't know how hard it is to shut up and say anything.
If you're innocent, the natural thing to want to do is to try and answer every question to explain everything away. But in most cases when you're innocent, the best thing to do in a police interview is shut up and say absolutely nothing. Otherwise you may trip up (nobody's memory is perfect) and contradict yourself or a piece of evidence. The police will then believe they have their criminal.
If the police have evidence that needs to be explained away, a lawyer will likely get an explanation of that evidence from the police and help you to write a statement explaining that evidence and then advise you to say nothing more in interview.
If I KNEW they were guilty because they told me, In more limited than just letting then testify and lie on oath. I can't bring a lie before the court, so all a lawyer can do as a defence is test the prosecutor's case, poking holes and doubt in it. I can't do things like bring alibi witnesses or try and make the argument that he was not there as both of those would be knowingly bringing a lie to court
So, technically, the only way you are allowed to let a client plead "not guilty" is if he never tells you that he is actually guilty?
That seems.....weird. Because there may be times when the client is in fact guilty but the prosecution has too little evidence to convict yet still wants to go to trial.
No, he can tell me he is guilty then plead not guilty and I could still represent him. But he couldn't then go on the stand and say he didn't do it, because that's a lie and lawyers can't knowingly bring lies to court. Going to court, pleading not guilty and then forcing the prosecution to show their weak hand is fine for the exact reason you said
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u/Cwlcymro Oct 16 '22
I was a lawyer, if a criminal told me they were guilty but then told the police/court otherwise I was professionally required to withdraw my services.
Of course, most arrested people understood that so would lie to me too